Fruit

Wes and I had an interesting discussion after last week's post. We were talking about the reasons why it is often difficult to share our Latter-day Saint belief in apostasy and restoration with people of other faiths -why it's hard to say without equivocation or excuse:

"Following the death of Christ's authorized apostles, the doctrines of salvation became cloudy and convoluted. Over time, controversy and confusion grew, and although many pure hearted people maintained faith in Christ, the authority to act in His name was lost from the earth."

I mean, let's be honest with ourselves: to the general Christian world, that must be a hard statement to swallow! I really had to hesitate for half a second when I thought about filling our little corner of the world wide web with such a seemingly presumptuous declaration. Because, while we may not be the smartest cookies in the jar (like when I spelled "explanatory" wrong in the title of our very first post?! Right. Thanks, Jed! =), we certainly have no desire to offend (zero desire), or to be presumptuous, or unthinking.

Hence, Wes and I have been deliberating a little about why we believe what we believe. About why we feel so confidant making such a controversial statement.

The reason has to do with fruit.

When the Savior was on the earth, he prophesied that many in our day would be deceived by false prophets - "wolves" in "sheep's clothing". And He also gave the key whereby we can distinguish true prophets from their well disguised counterparts. He said:

Ye shall know them by their fruits...
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit...
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7:15-20

The fruit of the restoration of Christ's church is the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is tangible evidence that can be examined. It is real fruit that can be held, studied, tasted, considered.

The Book of Mormon contains this promise (this magnificent, beautiful promise):

Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall receive these things (the Book of Mormon), if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. Moroni 10:3-5

Wes and I have both read and asked.
He has included some of his related thoughts in the post below, I'll share a few of my feelings next week (and we will periodically invite others to share their Book of Mormon experiences).
But the point is: we know the fruit (and therefore the tree) is good.

And we hope you'll examine it for yourself.